Actor/director Clint Eastwood insisted on live musical performances while filming his new movie Jersey Boys, so he could capture the real emotions and facial expressions of his singing stars on camera. The veteran filmmaker hired a handful of real Broadway stars to appear in the big screen adaptation of the hit stage show about the lives and careers of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and he wanted to really showcase their talents by having them hit the high notes live.
Eastwood says, "In the old days... everything was pre-recorded and the actresses (sic) would just lip-sync, but I said, 'No, we'll just do it live' so the emotion, the facial expressions match the song."
His decision was warmly welcomed by leading actor John Lloyd Young, who was cast as Valli in the film after winning acclaim for his role as the singer on the Broadway stage.
Praising Eastwood for the move, he tells U.S. news show Entertainment Tonight, "Clint is a real music aficionado and really knows music... How great for us and for Clint that he's using people who are used to singing it live on stage every day and will sing it live on set."
The Jersey Boys film cast also includes Christopher Walken, Boardwalk Empire's Vincent Piazza, Mike & Molly actor Billy Gardell and another Jersey Boys stage star, actress Erica Piccininni.
It won't be the only Hollywood movie musical to feature live singing - Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and the rest of the cast of 2012's Oscar-winning Les Miserables also had to perform live during production.

Jersey Boys is a big glitzy musical full of show-stopping, finely tuned musical numbers, and that signature layered sound that originally shuttled Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to the top of the music charts in the '60s. Now, Clint Eastwood is looking to shrink the live theater experience into a film adaptation.
The first trailer for the Jersey Boys film has been released, and the upcoming flick looks to stick pretty closely to the source material. The original musical tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Season, a couple of rough and tumble kids from Jersey that defied the odds and became pop music sensations. John Lloyd Young, the original Tony winning star of the show, is reprising his role as Valli for the film. The Jersey Boys film looks to carry over stage show's beguiling narration where each member of the Four Seasons tells a different, skewed version of the group's collective story. Breaking the fourth wall is a device used by many television shows and films, and while it remains to be seen whether Jersey Boys uses the device well, some works have used it better than others.
Warner Bros. UK Trailers/YouTube
Wolf of Wall Street Does it work: Yes. Scorsese's ode to excess uses the fourth wall device sparingly, having the crass Jordan Belfort unload his unholy sermons on the almighty dollar in only a few doses. It only happens a handful of times throughout the film so the technique never overstays it's welcome.
House of CardsDoes it work: It's a mixed bag. While it's sometimes fun to hear Frank Underwood deliver a vicious tongue lashing in that deep-throated southern drawl, many of the fourth wall breaking asides in House of Cards only serve as the delivery mechanism for mind numbing exposition. It's almost as if the show doesn't trust us to follow along with its political punches without Frank directly telling us what is happening.
Fight ClubDoes it work: Yes. Fight Club is often a call to action as much as it is a riotously loopy thriller. Both Brad Pitt and Edward Norton speak right to the audience while denouncing the shackling nature of our consumerist, image-obsessed culture.
Malcolm in the MiddleDoes it work: Yes, the episodes near-constant shattering of the narrative/audience barrier is in deeply coded into the DNA of the show. Malcolm in the Middle simply wouldn't be Malcolm in the Middle without Frankie Muniz's exacerbated asides to the camera. If you had a family like that, you'd probably start talking to an imaginary audience as well.
Ferris Bueller's Day OffDoes it work: An emphatic yes. Ferris' one day sabbatical from high school isn't just a solo adventure. You and everyone else in the audience is along for the ride. Part of the reason Ferris Bueller has endured over the years is because of Bueller's ability to seemingly warp and shape reality around him and ensure that everyone is having a good time. It's the ultimate teenage power fantasy, and you have you're own personal demigod tour guide.
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For a film that involves a love triangle, mental illness, a Bohemian colony of free-spirits, an impending war and several important historical figures, the most exciting elements of Summer in February are the stunning shots of the English country and Cornish seaside. The rest of the film never quite lives up to the crashing waves and sun-dappled meadows that are used to bookend the scenes, as the entertaining opening never manages to coalesce into a story that lives up the the cinematography, let alone the lives of the people that inspired it.
Set in an Edwardian artist’s colony in Cornwall, Summer in February tells the story of A.J. Munnings (Dominic Cooper), who went on to become one of the most famous painters of his day and head of the Royal Academy of Art, his best friend, estate agent and part-time soldier Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens), and the woman whom they both loved, aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning). Her marriage to Munnings was an extremely unhappy one, and she attempted suicide on their honeymoon, before killing herself in 1914. According to his journals, Gilbert and Florence were madly in love, although her marriage and his service in the army kept them apart.
When the film begins, Munnings is the center of attention in the Lamorna Artist's Colony, dramatically reciting poetry at parties and charming his way out of his bar tab while everyone around him proclaims him to be a genius. When he’s not drinking or painting, he’s riding horses with Gilbert, who has the relatively thankless task of keeping this group of Bohemians in line. Their idyllic existence is disrupted by the arrival of Florence, who has run away from her overbearing father and the fiancé he had picked out for her in order to become a painter.
Stevens and Browning both start the film solidly, with enough chemistry between them to make their infatuation interesting. He manages to give Gilbert enough dependable charm to win over both Florence and the audience, and she presents Florence as someone with enough spunk and self-possession to go after what she wants. Browning’s scenes with Munnings are equally entertaining in the first third of the film, as she can clearly see straight through all of his bravado and he is intrigued by her and how difficult she is to impress. Unfortunately, while the basis of the love triangle is well-established and entertaining, it takes a sudden turn into nothing with a surprise proposal from Munnings.
Neither the film nor Browning ever make it clear why Florence accepts his proposal, especially when they have both taken great pains to establish that she doesn’t care much for him. But once she does, the films stalls, and both Stevens and Browning spend the rest of the film doing little more than staring moodily and longingly at the people around them. The real-life Florence was plagued by depression and mental instability, but neither the film nor Browning’s performance ever manage to do more than give the subtlest hint at that darkness. On a few occasions, Browning does manage to portray a genuine anguish, but rather than producing any sympathy from the audience, it simply conjures up images of a different film, one that focused more on Florence, and the difficulties of being a woman with a mental illness at a time when both were ignored or misunderstood.
Stevens is fine, and Gilbert starts out with the same kind of good-guy appeal the won the heart of Mary Crawley and Downton Abbey fans the world over. However, once the film stalls, so does his performance, and he quickly drops everything that made the character attractive or interesting in favor of longing looks and long stretches of inactivity. He does portray a convincing amount of adoration for Florence, although that's about the only real emotion that Gilbert expresses for the vast majority of the film, and even during his love scene, he never manages to give him any amount of passion.
Cooper does his best with what he’s given, and tries his hardest to imbue the film with some substance and drama. His Munnings is by turns charming, brash, and brooding, the kind of person who has been told all of their life that they are special, and believes it. He even manages to give the character some depth, and even though he and Browning have very little chemistry, he manages to convey a genuine affection for her. It’s a shame that Munnings becomes such a deeply unlikable character, because Cooper is the only thing giving Summer in February a jolt of life – even if it comes via bursts of thinly-explained hostility. It's hard to watch just how hard he's working to connect with his co-stars and add some excitement to a lifeless script and not wish that he had a better film to show off his talents in.
Unfortunately, by the time Florence and Gilbert are finally spurred into activity, the film has dragged on for so long that you’re no longer invested in the characters, their pain, or their love story, even if you want to be. Which is the real disappointment of Summer in February; underneath the stalled plot and the relatively one-note acting, there are glimmers of a fascinating and compelling story that’s never allowed to come to the forefront.
2/5
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Stephen King's The Stand needs to be made into a big-budget film. There was a decently made mini-series that included some notable actors. That version was even produced by King himself. However, the television medium doesn't allow the story to explore the haunting parts of King's vision of the end of the world. The mini-series also felt a little bland at times. The film may have lost Ben Affleck to his infamous run as Batman and may end up casting Christian Bale, but here's our fantasy casting for the film series.
Johnny Depp as Randall Flagg
Randall Flagg is charming, attractive, and can seduce people out of their souls. Yet, in the next moment beat them mercilessly to death or make them go mad with just a look. Depp has the good looks and the convincing darkness to portray an agent of the devil. His roles in films like Dark Shadows and Sweeney Todd show he can be dark and twisted while still maintaining his charm, humor, and sex appeal. He also created the definitive anti-hero in Jack Sparrow.
Walt Disney Co via Everett Collection
Cicely Tyson as Mother Abigail
Mother Abigail is a 108-year-old woman, the oldest living human being, and a prophet of God. She becomes a lightning rod for all the good people left in the world to gather together. At 80 years old, Tyson just won a Tony for her role in The Trip to Bountiful. She is an amazing actress and her recent role in The Help has proven that nothing can stop her.
Summit Entertainment via Everett Collection
Emma Stone as Frances Goldsmith
Frannie is pregnant and in her early twenties. As the flu strikes, she questions if she should keep the baby. She’s smart, funny, and attractive enough to get a bit of a love triangle going. Stone is attractive, quirky, and has already seen the apocalypse starring in Zombieland. While most of her films have been comedies, she did show her dramatic muscles in The Help. She also has shown she has the edge to potentially kick ass and it would be great to see her actually do it on screen.
Walt Disney Co via Everett Collection
Matthew McConaughey as Stu Redman
Stu is affectionately known as East Texas. He is one of the first known survivors of the super flu. He plays a major part in the story and the survival of Mother Abigail's followers. When you think of Texas you think of McConaughey. His recent success and Oscar buzz with Dallas Buyer's Club show that the dramatic actor is back along with the comedian we remember from movies like Magic Mike. He has the right level of folksy charm that would encourage a community of survivors to rally behind him.
Millennium Entertainment via Everett Collection
Ryan Gosling as Larry Underwood
Larry Underwood is a sexy rockstar. He spends the bulk of the story with multiple women who want the best for him but sadly he disappoints them. Tons of women in America would love to see Gosling in this role. He has the huge fan following to be believable as a rock star. His role as a ne'er do well stunt driver in Drive and as a lothario in Crazy Stupid Love make him well suited for this role.
FilmDistrict via Everett Collection
Taylor Schilling as Nadine Cross
Nadine Cross is a former school teacher that meets Larry on the road. They connect and bond but she's a virgin and can't be with him. Who is she saving herself for ... who do you think? Randall Flagg. Schilling is huge right now given the success of Orange is the New Black. In the show, she's able to play a virginal innocence while still maintaining a slightly dark and twisted edge. After all, how pure can you be in prison?
Warner Bros. via Everett Collection
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Nick Andros
Nick Andros is a deaf-mute that is introduced to the audience when he is savagely beaten. He becomes a major player in Mother Abigail's society despite being only able to communicate by writing notes. Levitt has the acting chops to breathe life into this challenging role. He has played off-beat characters in films like Hesher and Don John.
Relativity Media via Everett Collection
Helen Mirren as Glen Bateman
Glen Bateman is a retired sociology professor that loves painting and Kojack the dog. In the book, Bateman is a man. However, given her success in the Red films, Mirren proves she is part of the boy's club. Also, the book is a little light on female characters so it would be great to have such a dynamic actor as Mirren in such a pivotal role. Bateman helps re-establish society in the post-flu community. Plus, in an alternate life, couldn't you imagine Mirren as a ballsy sociology professor. We can pretend Teaching Mrs. Tingle never happened.
Focus Features via Everett Collection
Jonah Hill as Harold Lauder
Harold Lauder is a chubby, know-it-all teenager with some pretty dark thoughts. Now, Hill isn't that chubby anymore, however he is really stretching into dramas. He also proved in 21 Jump Street that he can play a believable teenager, even if its a grown man playing a grown man pretending to be a teenager. He'd be great as this slightly homicidal genius that becomes obsessed with Frannie.
Columbia Pictures via Everett Collection
John Cho as Lloyd Henreid
Lloyd Henreid is a petty criminal that gets caught in a murder spree right before the flu breaks. Flagg rescues him from prison and makes Lloyd his right-hand man. Given his recent run as a villain in Sleepy Hollow, Cho clearly can play bad. Also, it would be great if the film adaptation could not only break convention by having a male character played by an actress like Mirren but also to have a criminal played by an Asian-American actor. Stereotypes have to be broken somewhere.
New Line Cinema via Everett Collection
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Imagine having to spend Christmas morning with Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) from Fight Club. Yes, your stomach must be churning, quick, find a wastebasket.
The holidays can be tough for movie characters that can only be described as misfits. Here are five such characters guaranteed to mess up your holiday cheer.
Marla Singer
What were you thinking? Only the truly crazy hang out with this woman. (See also Tyler Durden.) Will she run outside barefoot on Christmas morning? Maybe your face will get punched in. Or you could get a random call from a hospital because of her attempted suicide. Way to spend Christmas.
Walt Kowalski
Clint Eastwood plays this old fart perfectly in Gran Torino. Spending any holiday with this man will result in arguments, racial slurs and, possibly, gunshots. Limit your interaction to phone calls, at least you won't get physically hurt. Your feelings, on the other hand ...
The Incredible Hulk
If Dr. Bruce Banner gets the wrong gift, it's all over, your life is in immediate danger. It doesn't matter which actor portrays him, play it safe and give a gift card. Preferably one of those Visa ones in which you can spend money wherever. Don't make him angry.
Rusty Ryan
Doesn't this guy ever stop eating? Played by Brad Pitt, the Ocean's Eleven smooth guy feels suicidal only in the morning and will steal from you if your bank account entices him. Perhaps giving him baked goods will keep him away from whatever fortune you have.
Dr. Emmett Brown
Easily the craziest of this group, the Doc (Christopher Lloyd) from Back to the Future will get you into trouble any day of the week. Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean history can't be altered or plutonium can't be swindled. Don't be surprised if somebody has this man committed as you're opening presents at home.
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Actor Billy Gardell suffered a setback in his battle to quit smoking for good on the set of Jersey Boys after director Clint Eastwood suggested his character should light up cigarettes. The Mike & Molly comedian landed a small role in the upcoming movie adaptation of the hit musical, but he soon found himself returning to his old bad habit for the summer (13) shoot because he couldn't say no to the legendary screen star.
Gardell says, "I haven't smoked in about four months, five months, and I was using them (sic) electric cigarettes to get off (nicotine) and he goes, 'I think you should smoke in this scene, how do you feel about that?' (I said), 'Yeah, Mr. Eastwood, whatever you think!' He was just so cool, he's just such a guy."
Christopher Walken leads the cast in the movie, which chronicles the career of boy band Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The film also features Vincent Piazza and John Lloyd Young, who portrayed Valli in the Broadway stage musical that inspired the film.

Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell have been shortlisted for a top honour at the 39th annual Humanitas Prize awards. The accolades, split into nine categories, celebrate the best in TV and film writing and both directors have earned nods in the Feature Film section for Tarantino's Django Unchained and Russell's Silver Linings Playbook. They will compete with Flight's John Gatins for the title.
Writer/filmmaker Jeff Nichols has landed a mention in the Sundance Feature Film category for his coming-of-age movie Mud, going up against Ryan Coogler for independent drama Fruitvale Station and Michael Starrbury for The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete.
Meanwhile, the 30 Minute TV group features Modern Family writers Danny Zuker and Christopher Lloyd, Nurse Jackie's Liz Brixius and The New Normal's Mike Scully, and the 60 Minute category will be a fight between Bones' Stephen Nathan (for the episode The Patriot in Purgatory), David Shore, Eli Attie and Peter Blake for the Everybody Dies episode of medical drama House, and Karen Struck and David E. Kelly for Monday Mornings' Truth or Consequences.
The winners will be announced during a special luncheon on 20 September (13) in Los Angeles.

I feel betrayed. As a Trekker who’s watched all five Star Trek series and all eleven of the previous films (I even ranked all 79 episodes of The Original Series from worst to best), I feel completely justified in saying that Star Trek Into Darkness is not a Star Trek movie. That, unlike J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek, which so beautifully rebooted the franchise with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the roles of Kirk and Spock first inhabited by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek Into Darkness possesses none of Gene Roddenberry’s exploratory spirit. It doesn’t even attempt to project Star Trek’s core idea: that by exploring the universe and seeking out new life forms and new civilizations, we learn something about ourselves too. Star Trek Into Darkness is instead a dull, colorless action movie with none of that wonder or optimism; a tired good-versus-evil premise about guys shooting phasers at each other, blowing stuff up, and causing unspeakable carnage then forgetting about it moments later. It’s not shot like a Star Trek movie — despite all its little Trek references — it’s not written like a Trek movie, it’s not acted like a Trek movie, and it doesn't feel like one, either.
That’s the thing… Into Darkness has all these little Easter Eggs and references to Trek of old — shout-outs include a Tribble, the Enterprise NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise, Nurse Chapel — but it’s missing Trek’s soul. J.J. Abrams has assimilated the franchise into something worse than the Borg Collective: into the dispiriting monochromatic, shaky-cam, eardrum-shattering tropes of contemporary blockbuster filmmaking. This is a movie made by someone who, deep down, despises Star Trek. It might as well be called, as Matt Zoller Seitz put it in The Chicago Sun-Times, The Bourne Federation.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan too, and what I’m feeling, as a Trekker, about Into Darkness, is I think what many Star Wars fans felt about the prequels. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, have inspired such blind rage from the fans, that it seems almost ridiculous. Personally, I think there are some good elements about those movies, and some bad ones too. They’re different from the Original Trilogy, sure, but, visually at least, they still feel like Star Wars movies. A lot of fans would disagree, though. And what they felt about those movies, I feel toward Star Trek Into Darkness. My depression over this film is only amplified by the fact that it’s gotten otherwise great reviews from the critics and will make a boatload of money, meaning that this is what people from now on will think Star Trek should be. Unlike the Star Wars prequels, which didn’t even necessarily rule out the opportunity for more Star Wars in the future, Star Trek Into Darkness could truly destroy Trek for me, if the franchise’s subsequent producers think that they have to make follow-ups in a similar vein.
MAJOR SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
These are the four main reasons I hate Star Trek Into Darkness with such a passion.
1. Kirk’s Death — So Abrams and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof decided just to restage Spock’s iconic death in The Wrath of Khan with the roles reversed! Except there are no stakes here. Ever. You know McCoy will find some way to bring Kirk back from the dead in 10 minutes. And he does. At least when Spock died, it took a whole movie, the death of Kirk’s son, the destruction of the Enterprise, and pretty much a journey to hell and back — with the Genesis Planet providing the hellfire — in order to bring Spock back to the living. Stakes! But the bigger problem is, why would you make a $190 million movie that pivots on recreating a scene from another film from 30 years ago? Doesn’t that make you stop and think, "Gee, maybe we should be watching The Wrath of Khan now, instead?"
With Kirk lethally irradiated and pressing his hand up against Spock’s on the other side of a pane of glass — and Spock then shouting "KHAAAAAAN!!!" after Kirk dies — Abrams &amp; Co. make their objective with this movie clear. They’re only interested in regurgitating, then futzing with, the franchise’s mythology. They have no desire to create anything new, not an original villain, not an original scenario. They just want to take old leftovers, reheat and repackage them, and pass them off as something "new." This movie is equivalent of the food that's dispensed by Trek’s 24th century replicators: you think you’re eating a real meal, but it’s just flavorless, protein-re-sequenced gunk downloaded from a hard-drive. Kirk’s meaningless death and the way it’s staged like Spock’s from The Wrath of Khan shows that Star Trek is no longer about looking forward as Roddenberry intended, it’s about looking backward: nostalgia in place of optimism.
2. Khan — Why did Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison have to be Khan Noonien Singh? Can anyone answer that for me? Because he didn’t have to be! He could have just been John Harrison, a Section 31 agent who turned on the Federation after discovering Admiral Marcus' treachery. Or someone who symbolized the soldiers-vs.-explorers debate at the heart of Starfleet. But he had to be Khan. Which is so weird, because for a movie that includes so many references and callbacks to previous Trek, Cumberbatch's Khan has almost nothing in common with the Khan we already knew, aside from his ability to throw a good punch. Suddenly he's a starship designer? And only a year after having been wakened from cryosleep aboard the Botany Bay? What happened to how he thinks in two-dimensional terms, like other 20th century Earth men? He has a deep baritone, he thinks nine steps ahead of his adversaries, but he has almost nothing in common with Ricardo Montalban’s Khan. John Harrison could have been any character! The fact that he’s Khan is totally arbitrary and an obvious ploy by Abrams and his lackeys to make this movie more 'cool.'
But here’s the deal: Khan is not a character like The Joker, who is strong enough to exist on his own terms regardless of who's playing him. You can recast The Joker. You can't recast Khan. Khan is and will forever be Ricardo Montalban. He is that character, amazingly ripped pecs and all.
There’s only one way they could have truly justified recasting Khan: actually having an Indian actor play the character. Khan is a Sikh from Northern India, and Montalban was a great Mexican actor — but there was always that ethnic disconnect. Why didn't Abrams cast his old Lost buddy Naveen Andrews in the role? That would make sense! Except that Abrams &amp; Co. must have been so committed to the idea of playing it coy about Khan that they must have figured casting an Indian actor would give him away as the villain. So they went in the opposite direction. At least the Star Trek of old had an actor of color playing Khan, because now he's been whitewashed into oblivion. Cumberbatch is a great actor and he does the most that he can with the character, but there is no justification for why a Sikh Indian has now become the pastiest Englishman alive. Even him being played by a Mexican with a "rich Corinthian leather" accent made better sense.
How do we account for this whitewashing in the film itself? Did Khan at some point have genetic resequencing a la Gustav Graves in Die Another Day and choose to become a pasty Englishman? Did Marcus involuntarily subject him to that? There’s no good reason, whatsoever, for this sudden racial switch. I mean, Ang Lee must be kicking himself for not thinking of making Life of Pi an all-white affair with Freddie Highmore as its lead. Damn, and if only Slumdog Millionaire had been made with Josh Hutcherson in place of Dev Patel and Stanley Tucci in place of Anil Kapoor. Why stop there? Because Abrams obviously also wanted to s**t on one of the greatest roles ever played by a Latino actor. So why don’t we remake West Side Story with an all-white cast? And I can't wait to see Chris Hemsworth play Zorro!
3. Leonard Nimoy’s Cameo — Quinto's Spock calls Nimoy's Spock Prime to ask who the heck this Khan is, and the old guy says that he's "the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise ever faced." Meaning that Spock Prime just broke the Prime Directive and threatened altering the timeline again by helping his younger self. It's another example of how Star Trek Into Darkness is saying that the Prime Directive is meaningless, that it's a rule that's meant to be broken. And it's symbolic of Abrams' disregard for all of the Federation's — and, by extension, Star Trek's — values. Considering that it also references Montalban's original Khan, it makes you wonder: are we supposed to think he's been replaced by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wrath of Khan as well? Has that movie been retroactively whitewashed too? And, again, why are we watching Star Trek Into Darkness when we could be watching that movie?
4. Characters Made of Cardboard — Other than the exploratory spirit, which was dead on arrival in Star Trek Into Darkness, the thing that always defined the franchise was its attention to its characters. They were such complex individuals, with uncertainties, doubts, strengths, and weaknesses. But in Star Trek Into Darkness they’re all just reduced to one defining characteristic. Kirk is a rule-breaking badboy; Spock isn’t just unfeeling, he’s uncaring; McCoy is a one-joke quote machine; Chekov is really young and inexperienced and has trouble pronouncing his "v’s"; Sulu’s steady and assured enough that he could one day take command; Scotty’s a party animal in a leisure suit; Uhura’s a shrill, nagging girlfriend. That last one is most dispiriting, because Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura was defined by her competence at her job, by the fact that she was the communications officer of the Federation’s flagship. Zoe Saldana’s Uhura is defined by her relationship to Spock. A franchise that even in the chauvinistic '60s used to shatter the Bechdel test all the time in its depiction of Uhura now fails to meet it in this film made four decades later. How is this progress?
For me, Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness even retroactively ruins his 2009 film, which I loved. Because it shows that this entire reboot project is just the Muppet Babies’ version of Star Trek, with the galaxy as its playpen and all the characters and plot points I knew and loved now reduced to toys that are brought out of the toybox to be recycled then discarded at whim. We’ve boldly gone nowhere.
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When you think of Star Trek aliens, two interstellar races probably spring to mind first: the Vulcans, those pointy-eared logicians, and their polar opposite, the Klingons. The warrior race has served a lot of different roles on Star Trek over the decades. First, they were the Federation's enemies in a long-running Cold War, as if they were the Russians to Starfleet's United States. Then, they became the Federation's allies. They went from being hotheaded killers to noble warriors. And somewhere along the line, especially on Deep Space Nine, they became the alien embodiment of the human Id.
The Klingons also happen to play a huge role in Star Trek Into Darkness. So, in their honor, we've rounded up eight milestones of Klingon history and culture that sum up why we love them so much.
1. Their Introduction: Meet Kor — "Errand of Mercy"
The Klingons made their debut in the Season 1 episode of The Original Series called "Errand of Mercy." Insanely warlike, they led an invasion of Organia, a planet inhabited by simple peasant dwellers. Or so they thought. The head of their occupation force was Kor, a mustachioed menace who was a lusty foil for Kirk. Kor was portrayed by John Colicos, and awesomely enough, this first encounter wouldn't be the last time we'd see him in the role.
2. Picking a Fight With Scotty — "The Trouble With Tribbles"
What was unique about the Klingons from the start, on The Original Series, was their capacity for getting under humanity's skin. Just look at how easily this one Klingon picks a fight with Scotty. All he has to do is call the Enterprise a "garbage scow." Maybe it's because the Klingons hit so close to him. To 23rd century humans, they're humanity as we used to be — aggressive, militaristic, incapable of overcoming our passions. And they're probably what we're still like here in the 21st century, except that we don't like to eat gagh. (That'd be worms, for those of you don't speak Klingon.)
Oh, you're also probably wondering about their physical appearance in The Original Series. Now we know from all later representations of Klingons that they have serrated forehead ridges. So why didn't they in the '60s TV show? Um, hello, lack of budget. But there is an in-universe explanation. The Klingons' experimentation with Earth-style genetic engineering in the mid-22nd century caused a whole swath of their population to end up looking more or less human. The idea was to use some of these human-looking Klingons to infiltrate Starfleet, but the mutation went viral and ended up affecting much of Klingon society.
3. "You Klingon Bastards..." — Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
The Klingons, though formidable, were a little oafish on The Original Series. Boy, did that change in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock where one Klingon in particular, Christopher Lloyd's Commander Kruge, came to represent just how fearsome the warrior race could be. He had Kirk's son, David, killed in an attempt to wrest Project Genesis out of his grasp. That led to William Shatner's immortal "You Klingon bastard, you killed my son!" monologue. Kruge was so formidable that the only way Kirk could defeat him was by blowing up the Enterprise — the moment after Kruge's crew had beaned aboard the exploding ship, of course. And even then Kirk only killed Kruge by throwing him into a pit of hellfire.
4. Worf — Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine
So after their villainy crescendoed in The Search for Spock, it was a surprise that Gene Roddenberry decided to make the Klingons allies of the Federation on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Symbolic of this detente was the presence of the first-ever Klingon Starfleet officer: Michael Dorn's Worf. Now Worf was a Klingon orphan raised by human parents in Belarus, so he was something of an outcast from his own people while also being a misfit among humanity. That made him, along with Brent Spiner's Data, Next Generation's "outsider on a quest," as Spock had been on The Original Series. He's more martial than many of the humans on the show, and he certainly loves a good fight. But he's entirely a noble warrior. Unlike the party-down, Bacchanalian sensibility of other Klingons we see in on Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, Worf is buttoned-down and stoic, a walking mass of awkwardness. Which makes us love him all the more.
5. Klingon Justice — Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
The final movie featuring the entire Original Series cast showed how exactly the Klingons and Federation made peace. It came out in 1991 and is pretty obviously an allegory for the end of the Cold War. But the two sides didn't patch things up without a little drama beforehand: most notably, the assassination of the Klingon chancellor Gorkon (David Warner), for which Kirk and McCoy had to stand trial. Just check out that Klingon judge's gavel! Is that the scariest thing you've ever seen or what?
6. "The Way of the Warrior"
And even decades into the Federation-Klingon Empire peace accords, tensions could still flare up. In fact, things reached a boiling point in the Season 4 premiere of Deep Space Nine, "The Way of the Warrior," in which the Klingons attack the titular space station after accusing Starfleet's Captain Sisko of protecting the Cardassian Empire's leadership council. (The Klingons and Cardassians had been at war, yada yada yada.) Alliance be damned, the Klingons would attack and board Deep Space Nine in order to abduct the Cardies they wanted. Chancellor Gowron tells DS9's Captain Sisko, when the good captain talks about how formidable his space station is, "You're like a toothless old Grishnakh cat trying to frighten us with your roar!" Only a scenery-chewer like Avery Brooks could compellingly deliver the response to that: "I can assure you this old cat may not be as toothless as you think."
7. Kor's Exit — "Once More Unto the Breach"
Star Trek fans' entire decades-long relationship with the Klingons came full circle when John Colicos, who played Kor way back in "Errand of Mercy" in 1967, returned in 1998 to play Kor once again in "Once More Unto the Breach" from the final season of Deep Space Nine. Instead of a nemesis, he was now a noble warrior — and a legend, if a slightly faded one. Kor was now a "Dahar Master," one of the highest ranks in the Klingon Empire, but it had been a long time since he'd tasted the sweetness of victory in battle. So Chancellor Martok had marginalized him. That is, until Kor took it upon himself to pilot a Bird of Prey into battle against multiple Jem Ha'dar warships during the Dominion war, and did so flying alone. He gave his comrades — and Chancellor Martok — the chance to escape certain death, while sacrificing himself. A worthy end to a foe turned friend.
8. A Klingon Wedding! — "You Are Cordially Invited"
Let's end on a lighter note, because one thing to take away is that the Klingons really like to party. Worf's wedding to Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine is a spectacularly debauched affair and shows that while the Klingons may love a good fight, they love drinking, wenching, and singing (especially old warrior ballads) just as much. At times they can be like the rowdiest fratboys in the galaxy. Just don't let them pull a Bat'leth on you.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt and follow Hollywood.com @Hollywood_com
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Andrew Lloyd Webber — the man who breathed modern, musical life into Eva Perón, Jesus Christ, and the long unsung heroes of the Jellicle race — is apparently a big Jack Black fan. The Broadway mainstay has announced interest in adding a new project to his long list of stage staples: a musical adaptation of the 2003 movie School of Rock. Webber tells Broadway World, "[One] thing that I've just got the rights to that I am very excited about ... is that movie School of Rock."
Webber suggests that he will combine his own lyrical talents — which have resulted in classic numbers like "Memory," "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," and "Music of the Night" — with the rock and roll benchmarks present in the original Richard Linklater movie. "There may be songs for me in it, but it's obviously got songs in it as it stands," Webber says.
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This is an interesting tactic for the established composer, who seems to be drawing from the well of Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys, tapping into pop favorites of yore for a stage production. Fans will recall School of Rock boasting a soundtrack featuring artists like Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, Cream, The Clash, The Doors, David Bowie, and Steve Nicks, in addition to original songs penned by star Black and screenwriter Mike White.
Presently, Webber is in the process of developing a musical based on the life of physician and subject of political controversy, Stephen Ward. "So, I will go from Stephen Ward, which is really going to be sort of a chamber musical, to a musical about kids playing the guitar!" Webber says, once again invoking jealousy in the heart of Maxwell Sheffield.
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]
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